The social media accounts of several prominent Pakistani celebrities were once again blocked in India on Thursday, just a day after the restrictions were lifted amid the backlash.
The Instagram and Twitter profiles of prominent Pakistani celebrities such as Hania Amir, Mahira Khan, Shahid Afridi, Mahabrah Haqqain, and Fawad Khan were once again accessible to Indian users on Thursday morning.
The development came a day after Indian social media users reported that the accounts of Pakistani celebrities were unblocked. However, this unblocking was short-lived and soon all these accounts were blocked again in India.
On Wednesday, several Pakistani YouTube channels and Instagram accounts started reappearing on social media platforms in India. However, on Thursday, Indian users saw a pop-up message stating the account was not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content. The government sources claim that these accounts were unblocked in India due to a technical glitch.
“If you can see some accounts on X, YouTube, and Meta, they will be inaccessible in a few hours. Some technical glitch led to the unblocking. Rectified now,” claimed the government source.
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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India has not yet reacted to the reappearance and then disappearance of the Pakistani channels and celebrities’ accounts in India.
The original restrictions were enforced in the wake of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly last month, after India’s Operation Sindoor, a military operation targeting Pakistan, claiming to hide the terrorist outfits in Pakistan’s Kashmir. Several Pakistani celebrities had publicly condemned their attacks by India, leading to a wave of backlash and the subsequent geo-blocking of their social media accounts within India.
Pakistan and India are in a volatile ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States, as claimed by President Donald Trump. Both sides fear for escalation in the future. Pakistan claims that tensions with India will only be resolved once the Indus Water treaty and the Kashmir dispute get a permanent solution.